Henrik Ibsen

“ But you don’t understand how the head of a great house becomes a living part of the business he inherits, with its enormous responsibility. Do you know that the welfare of hundreds, ay of thousands, depends upon him? Can you not consider that it would have been nothing short of a disaster to the whole community, which both you and I call our home, if the house of Bernick had fallen?
Lona. Is it for the sake of the community, then, that for these fifteen years you have stood upon a lie? ”

“ Then why not break with all this falsehood and hollowness?
Bernick. Now? It is too late now, Lona.
Lona. Karsten, tell me—what satisfaction does this show and imposture give you?
Bernick. It gives me none. I must go under, along with the whole of this bungled social system. But a new generation will grow up after us; it is my son that I am working for; it is his life-work that I am laying out for him. There will come a time when truth will find its way into our social order, and upon it he shall found a happier life than his father’s.
Lona. With a lie for its groundwork? ”

“ Lona. To no purpose, you say? Well well, you are a business man; you should understand what is to the purpose.—But listen, Karsten: I, too, will speak calmly and deliberately. Tell me—after all, are you really happy?
Bernick. In my family, do you mean?
Lona. Of course.
Bernick. I am indeed, Lona. Oh, you have not sacrificed yourself in vain. I can say truly that I have grown happier year by year. Betty is so good and docile. In the course of years she has learnt to mould her character to what is peculiar in mine——
Lona. ”

“ And Johan will not ask me either—he has promised me that.
Lona. But you yourself, Karsten? Is there not something within you that longs to get clear of the lie?
Bernick. You would have me voluntarily sacrifice my domestic happiness and my position in society!
Lona. What right have you to stand where you are standing?
Bernick. For fifteen years I have every day earned a clearer right—by my whole life, by all I have laboured for, by all I have achieved.
Lona. Yes, you have laboured for much and achieved much, both for yourself and others. You are the richest and most influential man in the town ”

“ Stensgård. Yes; you are lying to yourself, at any rate. You talk in one breath of town-contracts and of love. Why not call a spade a spade? There’s something sordid about all this; I will have nothing to do with it.
Bastian. But listen——!
Stensgård. Do your dirty work yourself, I say! [To Fieldbo, who enters from the right.] Well, how goes the election?
Fieldbo. Excellently for you, it appears. I saw Lundestad just now; he said you were getting all the votes.
Stensgård. Am I indeed?
Fieldbo. But what good will they do you? Since you’re not a man of property——
Stensgård. ”

“ Bernick. Yes, Lona; that rumour saved our house and made me the man I am.
Lona. A lie, then, has made you the man you are.
Bernick. Whom did it hurt, then? Johan intended never to return.
Lona. You ask whom it hurt? Look into yourself and see if it has not hurt you.
Bernick. Look into any man you please, and you will find at least one dark spot that must be kept out of sight.
Lona. And you call yourselves pillars of society!
Bernick. Society has none better. ”

“ Perhaps you don’t often go for a walk in the morning?
Dina. Oh, yes; but only with Olaf.
Johan. Ah!—Should you like to go down the garden, or to stay here?
Dina. I would rather stay here.
Johan. And I too. Then it’s settled that we go for a walk together every morning?
Dina. No, Mr. Tönnesen, you mustn’t do that.
Johan. Why not? You know you promised.
Dina. Yes, but on thinking it over, I——You mustn’t go about with me.
Johan. Why on earth should I not?
Dina. Ah, you are a stranger here; you don’t understand; but I must tell you——
Johan. ”

“ Fieldbo. There is my hand! This evening I am your friend indeed!
Stensgård. Thanks! Be faithful and true, as I shall be!—Oh, isn’t it an unspeakable joy to carry all that multitude away and along with you? How can you help becoming good from mere thankfulness? And how it makes you love all your fellow creatures! I feel as if I could clasp them all in one embrace, and weep, and beg their forgiveness because God has been so partial as to give me more than them.
Fieldbo. [Quietly.] Yes, treasures without price may fall to one man’s lot. ”

“ Rörlund. It is now that I must speak, Dina, though your conduct yesterday and to-day has made it ten times more difficult for me. But all other considerations must give place to your rescue. You remember the promise I gave you. You remember what you promised to answer, when I found that the time had come. Now I can hesitate no longer, and therefore— [To Johan Tönnesen] —I tell you that this girl, whom you are pursuing, is betrothed to me.
Mrs. Bernick. What do you say?
Bernick. Dina!
Johan. She! Betrothed to——?
Martha. No, no, Dina!
Lona. A lie!
Johan. Dina—does that man speak the truth? ”

“ If I were Hilda or Netta you would not be afraid to let any one see it.
Rörlund. Oh, Dina, you cannot possibly realise the thousand considerations——When a man is singled out as a moral pillar of the society he lives in, why—he cannot be too careful. If I were only sure that people would not misinterpret my motives——But no matter; you must and shall be helped to rise. Dina, shall we make a bargain that when I come—when circumstances permit me to come—and say: Here is my hand—you will take it and be my wife?—Do you promise me that, Dina? ”

“ Lundestad. Well, I’ll tell you what, Chamberlain—since you are going to set to work for the good of the district, it would be a shame and disgrace if an old soldier like me were to sulk in his tent.
Erik. Ah, what is this?
Lundestad. I cannot, in fact. After the disappointments in love that have befallen Mr. Stensgård to-day, Heaven forbid we should force the poor fellow into the political mill. He must rest and recover; a change of air is what he wants, and I shall see that he gets it. So if my constituents want me, why, they can have me. ”

“ Fieldbo. Tell me, Mr. Heire, what interest have you in the matter?
Heire. Interest? I am entirely disinterested, Doctor! If I chuckle, it is on behalf of my fellow citizens. There will be life, spirit, go, in things. For my own part—good Lord, it’s all the same to me; I say, as the Grand Turk said of the Emperor of Austria and the King of France—I don’t care whether the pig eats the dog or the dog the pig.
[Goes out towards the back on the right.
The Crowd. [In the tent.] Long live Stensgård! Hurrah! Hurrah for the League of Youth! Wine! Punch! Hei, hei! Beer! Hurrah!
Bastian. ”

“ Vigeland, I have to offer, for the decoration of your domestic sanctum, this book of family devotion, on vellum, and luxuriously bound. Under the ripening influence of years, you have come to view life from a serious standpoint; your activity in the daily affairs of this world has long been purified and ennobled by thoughts of things higher and holier. [Turns towards the Crowd.] And now, my friends, long live Consul Bernick and his fellow workers! Hurrah for the Pillars of Society!
The Whole Crowd. Long live Consul Bernick! Long live the Pillars of Society! ”

“ Martha. Never! Promise me, Dina, never to come back again. [Seizes both her hands and looks into her face.] Now go to your happiness, my dear child—over the sea. Oh, how often have I sat in the schoolroom and longed to be over there! It must be beautiful there; the heaven is wider; the clouds sail higher than here; a larger, freer air sweeps over the heads of the people——
Dina. ”

“ Rörlund. We have assembled, then, this evening to do homage, in your person, to the ideal citizen—the model of all the civic virtues. May your enterprise contribute to the true and lasting welfare of this community! The railway is, no doubt, an institution by means of which elements of evil may be imported from without, but it is also an institution that enables us to get quickly rid of them. From elements of evil from without we cannot even now keep ourselves quite free. ”

“ Rummel. So are we, Bernick; you may rely on us.
Rörlund. Do you really expect such great results from this undertaking, gentlemen?
Bernick. Yes, indeed we do. What a stimulus it will give to our whole community! Think of the great tracts of forest it will bring within reach, think of all the rich mineral-seams it will allow us to work; think of the river, with its one waterfall above the other! What rare advantages for manufactures of all kinds!
Rörlund. And you have no fear that more frequent intercourse with a depraved outer world ”

“ But what I hold in honour, and expect others to hold in honour, is the integrity handed down in our family from generation to generation. What I mean is that when a man like Lundestad goes into public life, he cannot keep his character and his conduct entirely free from stain. In the general mud-throwing, he is sure to find himself bespattered. But they might leave me in peace; I stand outside their parties.
Fieldbo. Not so entirely, Chamberlain; at least you were delighted so long as you thought it was Monsen that was attacked. ”

“ Bernick. But, first, my fellow citizens must know me to the core. Then let every one look into his own heart, and let us realise the prediction that from this evening we begin a new era. The old, with its tinsel, its hypocrisy and hollowness, its sham propriety, and its despicable cowardice, shall lie behind us like a museum, open for instruction; and to this museum we will present—will we not, gentlemen?—the coffee service, and the goblet, and the album, and the family devotions on vellum and luxuriously bound. ”

“ Ah!—then you know that the Americans have been making disturbances again. The ruffianly crew turn the whole town topsy-turvy. Not a night passes without fights in the taverns or on the street; not to speak of other abominations.
Aune. Yes, they’re a bad lot, for certain.
Bernick. And who gets the blame of all this? It is I—yes, I—that suffer for it. These wretched newspaper-men are covertly carping at us for giving our whole attention to the Palm Tree. And I, whose mission it is to set an example to my fellow citizens, must have such things thrown in my teeth! ”

“ And I say the same to you; for I hear you’re going into Parliament.
Stensgård. I? Nonsense. Who told you so?
Madam Rundholmen. Oh, some of Mr. Lundestad’s people.
Daniel Heire. [Enters from the back.] Hee-hee! Good-morning! I’m not in the way, am I?
Madam Rundholmen. Gracious, no!
Heire. Good God, how resplendent! Can it be for me that you’ve got yourself up like this?
Madam Rundholmen. Of course. It’s for you bachelors we get ourselves up, isn’t it?
Heire. For marrying men, Madam Rundholmen; for marrying men! Unfortunately, my law-suits take up all my time——
Madam Rundholmen. ”

“ Good Lord, we all know happiness isn’t a matter of money.
Stensgård. Of course not.
Lundestad. And with industry and determination you’ll soon be on your feet again. Don’t let poverty frighten you. I know what love is; I went into all that in my young days. A happy home; a faithful woman——! My dear young friend, beware how you take any step that may involve you in life-long self-reproach.
Stensgård. But what will become of your plans?
Lundestad. Oh, they must go as best they can. ”

“ We have at this moment the honour of seeing in our midst the man with the warm heart and the open hand—the man we have all looked up to for many a year, as to a father—the man who is always ready to help us, both in word and deed—the man whose door is never closed to any reputable citizen—the 24man who—who—ladies and gentlemen, our honoured guest is no lover of long speeches; so, without more words, I call for three cheers for Chamberlain Bratsberg and his family! ”

“ But, talking of that, what the deuce is the matter outside there? Your fellow citizens are scuttling about like frightened fowls, cackling and crowing and not knowing what perch to settle on.
Stensgård. Well, it’s an occasion of great importance.
Heire. Oh, you and your importance! No, it’s something quite different, my dear friends. There are whispers of a great failure; a bankruptcy—oh, not political, Mr. Lundestad; I don’t mean that!
Stensgård. A bankruptcy?
Heire. Hee-hee! That puts life into our legal friend. Yes, a bankruptcy; some one is on his last legs ”

“ Thora, Thora, do look after Selma! Get a shawl for her, and don’t let her run about so: she’ll catch cold! How short-sighted we mortals are, Doctor! Do you know any cure for that disease?
Fieldbo. The spectacles of experience; through them you will see more clearly a second time.
The Chamberlain. You don’t say so! Thanks for the advice. But since you feel yourself at home here, you must really pay a little attention to your guests.
Fieldbo. Certainly; come, Stensgård, shall we——?
The Chamberlain. Oh, no, no—there’s my old friend Heire out there——
Fieldbo. ”

“ There is only one who has a right to speak, and he is silent.
Lona. Johan?
Bernick. Yes, Johan. If any one else accuses me, I shall deny everything. If you try to crush me, I shall fight for my life. You will never succeed, I tell you! He who could destroy me will not speak—and he is going away again.
Rummel and Vigeland enter from the right.
Rummel. Good-morning, good-morning, my dear Bernick. You are coming with us to the Trade Council? We have a meeting on the railway business, you know.
Bernick. I cannot. It’s impossible just now.
Vigeland. You really must, Consul——
Rummel. ”